World

Alleged Nairobi Mall Attacker Was Once a Somalian Refugee

Lived in a camp in northwest Kenya

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One of the four Westgate Mall attackers once lived in a refugee camp of 50,000 Somali refugees in northwestern Kenya, two security officials said, highlighting Kenya's interest in speeding up the return of nearly 500,000 Somali refugees to their home country.

Very little is known about the four gunmen that sprayed bullets into men, women and children inside Nairobi's Westgate Mall on Sept. 21, a busy Saturday afternoon. Al-Shabab, a Somali Islamic extremist group affiliated with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the four-day siege of the mall that killed 67 people.

One mall attack suspect has been identified as Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, a 23-year-old Somalia native whose family moved to Norway in 1999. Court documents revealed a second name last week — Mohammed Abdinur Said — that an official confirmed was the name of another attacker.